BRADFORD City Women chairman Qasim Akhtar has confirmed that the club are not any closer to discovering the outcome of their appeal.

The Bantams were charged by the West Riding County FA in December after supposedly fielding an ineligible player in the West Riding County Cup second-round fixture against Silsden Ladies, on November 26.

The West Riding County FA alleged that the player in question was not eligible to play due to not being registered seven days prior to the fixture and having already played a competitive fixture for the club.

City have since appealed this decision, and speaking to the T&A, Akhtar gave an update on the situation.

He said: “We haven’t had anything back as of yet, so it’s just about waiting at this moment in time. As a club, we’ve never been through an appeal process like this before, so it’s hard to say when the conclusion will be made.”

Despite the frustration of being charged by the West Riding, Akhtar admitted that the appeal process hasn’t interfered with footballing matters at the club.

He said: “No, not at all (interfered). Obviously, the charge came at a time where we were coming towards that Christmas break anyway, and on top of that, each person at the club has their own job, whether it’s on-field management, the players themselves, or people like me who work behind the scenes, so we all have our own focuses and one of mine in the short-term future is to deal with this situation.

“So, it’s not affected things in a negative way, let’s say.”

Akhtar admitted that the decision to charge the club came as a shock and frustration to those involved, when he said: “Yes, it was surprising, but I was probably more disappointed than anything else to be fair.

“I understand that the West Riding County Cup have got to do what they need to do, but I guess the reason we found ourselves in that situation is because of the lack of clarity from the West Riding FA on their rules.

“In January 2022, we played against Yorkshire Amateurs in the second round of the West Riding County Cup. Prior to this fixture, we signed three players who had not featured in a competitive fixture for the club, to play in the game. We checked with the West Riding County FA prior to doing so and we were informed they were eligible to play.

“We’ve done the same thing this time around, and we’ve been told that we’re basically being kicked out of the County Cup, which is the annoying bit. Everybody makes mistakes, but I just don’t know what our mistake is. If the County Cup were fine with us doing it two years ago, then why aren’t they now? There’s got to be some more accountability from their side too.”

The Bantams return to action on Sunday for their first 2024 outing, as they host basement side Harrogate Town FC Ladies. 

City, who sit in 6th place (out of 12) will be hoping to kickstart their year on the front foot, with just over half of the season left.